←Reports

Humanoid Deployment Status

Read full report →Request full PDF
Report·Humanoid·Mid-2026
Humanoid
Deployment Status

Where humanoids are actually deployed in mid-2026, and the gap between what is announced and what is operating.

3 Takeaways
01
“Deployment” numbers are not comparable across vendors: operational deployment (Market 1) and research or equipment sales (Market 2) measure different things, and conflating them is the most common error in reading the field.
02
Operational deployment, not equipment or research sales, is the real measure: only ~2,000 of the ~20,000 humanoids produced in 2025 are doing economically productive work for a paying customer, with the rest being research platforms, pilots, and demos.
03
Only one company is actually at commercial deployment (Agility with GXO), while everyone else sits in pilot, proof-of-concept, or research phase.
The frame
Announced vs actual

The field looks different from how it is described. Two gaps separate the announced from the actual, with a split underneath.

01
Maturity gap
Many pilots, few operational deployments.
02
Production gap
Units are produced faster than they are put to work.
03
The split
Capability-first (West) and volume-first (China) validate different things.
Introduction
Pilots vs operational
  • Many programs exist, but almost none do paid operational work.
  • As of mid-2026, Agility Robotics with GXO is the lone operational deployment.
Many pilots, one operational
Agility Robotics
operational deploymentpilots, demos, research
Operational vs research sales
01 / Two markets
Two markets, two different things
  • Operational deployment tests commercial viability. Research sales test interest.
  • Western numbers are mostly operational. High-volume Chinese numbers are mostly research sales.
Market 1 · this report
Operational deployment
What is boughtProductive work for the business
Measured byLabor offset, units moved, uptime
ValidatesCommercial viability
Market 2
Equipment & research sales
What is boughtThe robot itself
Measured byUsefulness as a research tool
ValidatesResearch community interest
Customer-vendor relationship
02 / Who is deploying
  • One vendor (Agility) is at commercial stage. Most pairings are still pilots.
  • Agility · GXOCommercial
    Tote movement
    West
  • Agility · Toyota CanadaCommercial
    Logistics
    West
  • Agility · Mercado LibreCommercial
    Logistics
    West
  • Figure · BMW SpartanburgPilot
    Sheet metal loading
    West
  • Hexagon · BMW LeipzigPilot
    Data collection
    West
  • Apptronik · Mercedes-BenzPilot
    Logistics, inspection
    West
  • Apptronik · JabilPilot
    Internal manufacturing
    West
  • Boston Dynamics · HyundaiPilot
    Internal
    West
  • UBTECH · BYD, GeelyCommercial
    Assembly, sorting
    China
  • Unitree · Research labsResearch sales
    Platform sales
    China
  • AgiBot · Chinese OEMsMixed
    Various
    China
Deployment maturity ladder
03 / Six rungs
Few reach the top
  • Six rungs separate a demo from commercial scale, and the value gap between them is enormous.
  • Almost every program sits low on the ladder. The top rung is empty.
  1. 6Commercial scale
  2. 5Commercial deployment
  3. 4Proof-of-concept
  4. 3Pilot
  5. 2Demo
  6. 1Research
Production-deployment gap
04 / Produced vs deployed
  • Production rose tenfold in a year, but only about 10% was put to productive work.
  • Headline production capacity describes potential, not deployment.
Units produced vs put to work
20242,000
202520,000
~10% deployed to productive workinventory, pilots, research, demos
Industry verticals
05 / Where adoption is real
Maturity by vertical
  • Logistics is the only mature vertical. Automotive is the next test.
  • Healthcare and consumer remain aspirational.
Logistics
Automotive mfg
Electronics mfg
Healthcare, hospitality
Consumer
Relative Market 1 maturity, Protocol read
Western vs Chinese
06 / Capability vs volume
Capability-first vs volume-first
  • The West optimizes capability. China optimizes volume and price.
  • The two may converge as Western costs fall and Chinese capability rises.
VOLUMECAPABILITYconvergingWesterncapability-firstChinesevolume-first
Protocol
Research toward a safer autonomous world
protocolz.org
01 / 11